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Season 1
Season 1 of The Shield began in March 12, 2002 on the FX Network. It was created by Shawn Ryan and consists of 13 episodes. The Shield: The Complete First Season was released on DVD in North America on January 7, 2003. Summary David Aceveda is assigned as new captain of the Barn in the district of Farmington. One of his top priorities is to successfully prosecute Detective Vic Mackey, leader of the experimental anti-gang unit called the Strike Team. Aceveda suspects Mackey is involved in corrupt illegal activities favoring drug dealer Rondell Robinson to control local drug trade. To capture him, Aceveda asks the new member of the team, Terry Crowley, to gather evidence for his prosecution. Although reluctantly, Crowley agrees not knowing that Mackey already knows about his intentions. During a raid on Two-Time's house (a drug dealer rival of Rondell), Mackey uses the dealer's gun to murder Crowley with Shane Vendrell as his only witness. After this, Aceveda is certain that Mackey had something to do with the murder so he starts an internal investigation of Mackey and the Strike Team. Meanwhile, Shane has to deal with the guilt of what they just did, while Assistant Chief of Police Ben Gilroy tries to cover Mackey's tracks. Also, rookie officer Julien Lowe trains under officer Danny Sofer, while also struggling with his latent homosexuality. Lowe, a devout Christian, is afraid of facing his desires so he tries to hide them. Lowe also has to deal with the tension between him and his partner, Danny. Lowe also witnesses a crime committed by Vic and the Strike Team, which Aceveda uses again to try to capture Mackey. Finally, detectives Dutch Wagenbach and Claudette Wyms try to track down an elusive serial killer who Dutch thinks is responsible for at least four murders. While Dutch gets obsessed with the case, Claudette frequently tries to divert his attention to their other cases. Timeline Season 1 begins four months after the inauguration of the "Barn". Although no timeline is specified, it appears to cover a period of roughly a month or two. Format The season follows a few main plots and several subplots: # The aftermath of Vic Mackey's murder of Detective Terry Crowley, and his attempts of covering it up from Captain David Aceveda. # Captain Aceveda's attempts of capturing Vic Mackey, first by Crowley's murder and then because of cocaine theft. # Officer Julien Lowe's struggle with homosexuality, while pursuing a relationship with a petty thief. # Detectives Dutch Wagenbach and Claudette Wyms attempt to capture a serial killer. Major subplots * The failing marriage of Vic and Corrine Mackey, as well as Vic's adulterous relationship with Officer Danny Sofer. * The diagnosis of Vic's son, Matthew, as autistic. * Vic's use of drug dealer Rondell Robinson to maintain control of local drug trade. * Tension between Julien Lowe and his training officer, Danny Sofer. * Aceveda's attempt to maintain power at the Barn and his initial steps en route to the City Council. Production Show creator Shawn Ryan had the idea of the pilot episode for some time. He claims that the script was an intentional departure of what he had wrote for the show Nash Bridges, where he worked as a writer for three years. Ryan has said that he never thought any network would make it, but FX Network agreed to work with him. After reaching an agreement with FX, Ryan received a budget of $1.3 million per episode, which was below the usual budget for a network show. Ryan approached director Clark Johnson to work with him directing the pilot. Ryan had been on police "ride-alongs" as part of his preparation on writing Nash Bridges, so he told Johnson that he wanted "the viewer to feel like they're on a police ride-along". Johnson had worked with the police as well as part of the cast and crew of shows like Homicide: Life on the Street and The Wire. The pilot episode of The Shield was filmed in early 2002. Promotional clips for the show heavily featured actor Reed Diamond on his role of Detective Terry Crowley. This was done intentionally to heighten the surprise of his death in the same episode. The episode aired in March 12, 2002 and many critics praised the boldness of it. The entire season finished airing in June 4, 2002. The entire season was first released on DVD on January 7, 2003 by Fox. The season was re-released by Sony Pictures on March 25, 2008. Cast '' (Season 1)]] Main cast * Michael Chiklis as Vic Mackey (13 episodes) * Catherine Dent as Danny Sofer (13 episodes) * Walton Goggins as Shane Vendrell (10* episodes) * Michael Jace as Julien Lowe (13 episodes) * Kenneth Johnson as Curtis Lemansky (10* episodes) * Jay Karnes as Dutch Wagenbach (13 episodes) * Benito Martinez as David Aceveda (13 episodes) * and CCH Pounder as Claudette Wyms (13 episodes) Guest and recurring stars * Cathy Cahlin Ryan as Corrine Mackey (11 episodes) * David Rees Snell as Ronnie Gardocki (9 episodes) * John Diehl as Ben Gilroy (6 episodes) * Joel Rosenthal as Matthew Mackey (6 episodes) * Brent Roam as Tomas Motyashik (5 episodes) * Jamie Brown as Connie Reisler (4 episodes) * Camillia Sanes as Aurora Aceveda (4 episodes) * Walter Jones as Rondell Robinson (3 episodes) * Efrain Figueroa as Jorge Machado (3 episodes) * Autumn Chiklis as Cassidy Mackey (2 episodes) * Sticky Fingaz as Kern Little (2 episodes) * Cedric Pendleton as T.O. Osmond (2 episodes) * April Grace as Detective Frances Housely (2 episodes) * Reed Diamond as Terry Crowley (2 episodes) * Both Goggins and Johnson appear in only 10 episodes, but are credited in all 13. Crew Episodes Notes * Although Walton Goggins is credited in all episodes, his character, Shane Vendrell, doesn't appear in three of them. This is the only season where this occurs, since he appears in all the remaining episodes of the show. Something similar happens to Kenneth Johnson, whose character, Curtis Lemansky, also doesn't appear in three of them despite being credited in all. See Also * DVD collections: The Shield: The Complete First Season Category:Seasons Category:Season 1